I stood checked for a moment - awe, not fear, fell upon me - and whist I stood, a solemn wind began to blow, the most mournful that ever ear heard. Mournful! That is saying nothing. It was a wind that had swept the fields of mortality for a hundred centuries.
Interpretation
The quote reflects a profound moment of awe in the face of mortality and the passage of time.
In this quote, Thomas De Quincey describes a moment of deep reflection where he is overcome not by fear, but by a sense of reverence and awe as he experiences a melancholic wind. This wind symbolizes the enduring nature of mortality and the weight of centuries of existence, inviting the listener to contemplate the impact of time on life and the feelings of loss and nostalgia that accompany such reflections.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of cherishing life.
But my way of writing is rather to think aloud, and follow my own humours, than much to consider who is listening to me; and, if I stop to consider what is proper to be said to this or that person, I shall soon come to doubt whether any part at all is proper.
The mere understanding, however useful and indispensable, is the meanest faculty in the human mind and the most to be distrusted.
Nobody will laugh long who deals much with opium: its pleasures even are of a grave and solemn complexion.
Surely everyone is aware of the divine pleasures which attend a wintry fireside; candles at four o'clock, warm hearthrugs, tea, a fair tea-maker, shutters closed, curtains flowing in ample draperies to the floor, whilst the wind and rain are raging audibly without.
Thou hast the keys of Paradise, oh, just, subtle, and mighty opium!
Flowers that are so pathetic in their beauty, frail as the clouds, and in their coloring as gorgeous as the heavens, had through thousands of years been the heritage of children - honored as the jewelry of God.
Emotional life is - alongside work - one of the great challenges of existence and is a theme that I keep returning to.
The moral of the story is we're here on Earth to fart around. And, of course, the computers will do us out of that. And, what the computer people don't realize, or they don't care, is we're dancing animals. You know, we love to move around.
Every formula of every religion has in this age of reason, to submit to the acid test of reason and universal assent.
I will not call it my philosophy; for I did not make it. God and humanity made it; and it made me.
For every man the world is as fresh as it was at the first day, and as full of untold novelties for him who has the eyes to see them.
You come of the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve," said Aslan. "And that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth. Be content.
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